The Sleeping Faun, modeled 1864, carved c. 1870

Hosmer is the best known female member of a large group of American artists working in Italy during the mid 1800s. The Sleeping Faun, a depiction of a pointed-eared woodland spirit, demonstrates her mastery of the neoclassical style, which was inspired by the art of ancient Greece and Rome. Hosmerâ€™s playful sense of humor infuses the composition: a half-human, half-goat satyr mischievously ties the unwitting faunâ€™s animal skin garment to a tree stump.

Inscription

Signed and inscribed on base: "H HOSMER Fecit -- Romae"; titled on base: "THE SLEEPING FAUN"